Do human rights permit support to better-off regions/ groups?

That depends. The human rights principle of non-discrimination requires that public resources benefit socially or regionally disadvantaged regions and groups. Likewise, for development cooperation elite capture of development benefits poses a serious challenge to poverty reduction.

In order to effectively contribute to more equity, development cooperation may offer targeted support for persons in marginalized regions or for discriminated groups in order to enable them to access state services and infrastructure. Targeted support for comparably better-off regions or population groups is likewise possible but only if it can be shown to generate a substantial trickle-down effect for poorer groups.